Notes from the Technology Trenches - January, 1998

Elizabeth H. Klampert is the Director of Library Services
for the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Ms.
Klampert was formerly a litigator for five years,
specializing in professional liability litigation. Before
attending law school, she was a corporate librarian for
twelve years, holding management positions in libraries in a
number of large organizations, including Rainier National
Bank in Seattle, Deloitte & Touche, and Merrill Lynch,
both in New York. She received both her BA in English and MLS
from the University of Washington in Seattle. She received
her JD at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.

(Archived
February 1, 1998)

This month, as always, has been busy on the techno front.
Among the events of interest this month was Internet World,
sponsored by Mecklermedia. Since it was here in New York at
the Javits Center, December 10-12, I decided to attend.
Another interesting event was the filing in early December of
what may be only the second Y2K complaint filed so far. The
first was filed in Michigan in June -- the second was filed
in California as a class action.

First, Internet World. I was able to attend as
"press" since Im a columnist for LLRX. I
dont know if this designation helped me at all, but
people at the booths did seem to want to bend my ear! As one
of the reporters from the New York Times noted, the
crowd was probably more interesting than most of the booths
this year. Perhaps the Internet World show belongs on Wireds
"Tired" list.

Much to my surprise, both Apple and Netscape were missing
in action. Given that Microsoft and Sun were there along with
the other big names (IBM, Lotus, Oracle, etc.), I wonder what
these folks were thinking!

Microsoft and Sun, those archrivals, were positioned
across an aisle from each other -- Mecklermedia must have a
sense of humor (or maybe they just wanted to see if there
would be some bloodshed). Both also had areas called
"Partners Pavilion," where vendors who
"partner" with these companies had mini-booths
where you could find out just what their partnerships with
Microsoft and Sun meant. I did a quick count and it looked as
though Microsofts "Partner Pavilion" was the
largest. As I roamed the floor, I saw a number of these
"Partner Pavilions," obviously the latest thing for
tech shows.

BTW, Netscape did have a small presence but nothing to
rival Sun or Microsoft -- Im sure that there are
Netscape partners that would have been happy to populate one
of those "Pavilions."

I was surprised to see that the United States Postal
Service had a substantial booth -- I guess they are trying to
clean up their image and show how technosavvy they are now
(perhaps they are sensitive about that snailmail label). Less
surprisingly, there were also a number of books available
from, to name just a few, OReilly, Prentice-Hall,
Wiley, and McGraw-Hill (on the lower level). A number of
technology publishers were there, of course, including
Ziff-Davis, handing out free copies of their offerings.

Other familiar vendors were there, too -- D&B had a
nice booth, demonstrating their Web site, http://www.dnb.com, that allows
you to get D&B information. Unfortunately, it does not
allow you to get cost information just yet, a feature that
the rep in the booth told me a lot of people seem to want.
Well, yes.

Many booths, including IBM, Adobe, Novell and others, had
a number of PCs available for people to get some hands on
experience with their products and, not incidentally, the
Internet. The lines for these were, predictably, l-o-n-g. On
the lower level, in fact, there was a large bank of PCs in
the "E-Mail Center" so that people could access
their e-mail. I couldnt resist and sent an e-mail off
to LLRX, using my Web-based e-mail account, valise.com.
Having a Web-based e-mail account comes in quite handy
sometimes (a topic for another column).

A number of non-Internet service providers were there,
including the only law firm at Internet World, Brown
Raysman, a New York firm that has carved out a specialty in
cyberlaw. The attorneys at the booth told me that they have
gone to several of these shows and have been the only law
firm there. They also told me that, not surprisingly, they
have gotten a fair amount of business from being at these
shows. For more on this firm, if youre interested, go
to their Web site, http://www.brownraysman.com.

Inmagic was there, touting its document management
capabilities. A number of the leading search engines were
on-site as well, including Alta Vista, Lycos and Infoseek.
Verity also had a booth, as did Real Audio/Media/Video.
PSI.net had what they were billing as the Internets
"First Live Jazz Festival" -- when I stopped by,
there was no music, only someone being interviewed, so I
moved on.

I did not see too many "toys," although I did
spot the "Wristglider" booth -- they look like
yo-yos and are touted as "the key to comfortable
computing." Good stocking stuffers, if nothing else!

The lower level had smaller booths, as well as the
well-attended E-Mail Center and Brown Raysman. The companies
represented here were involved in all sorts of e-commerce,
including large companies like Charles Schwab and American
Express. Some professional organizations were here, too --
the Association of Online Professionals, on the Internet at http://www.aop.org, and the
Webmasters Guild, found at http://www.webmaster.org.

One final note. The most intriguing booth (to me) was
"Mail Jail," where you can find "plug-in
technology that guards against junk e-mail." Just what
we all need, hm? For more enlightenment, check out their Web
site at http://www.mailjail.com.

Next, the "Millenium Bug" front. At least two
suits have been filed dealing with this problem and, I
suspect, this is just the beginning. In June, the first Y2K
case, Produce Palace International v. TEC-America Corp,
was filed in Michigan Circuit Court. For a copy of the
complaint, go to http://www.y2kexperts.com/litigation/19970612.htm.